WH Acupuncture & Herbs Centre

Coptis and Magnolia Decoction lian pu yin

[SOURCE]:Treatise on Cholera

[INGREDIENTS]: Prepared magnolia bark 6g,  Coptis root (parched with ginger juice) 3g,  Grassleaved sweetflag rhizome 3g,  Prepared pinellia tuber 3g,  Prepared soybean 9g,  Capejasmine fruit (parched) 9g,  Reed rhizome 60g

[DIRECTIONS]:Decoct all the above herbs in water for oral administration.

[EFFECTS]:Clearing away heat and resolving dampness, regulating qi and harmonizing the middle.

[INDICATIONS]: Syndrome of damp-heat lodged in the middle-jiao marked by vomiting, diarrhea, stuffy chest and abdomen, yellow and greasy tongue coating, scanty dark urine and rapid pulse.

[ANALYSIS OF FORMULA]: It is a common formula for treatment of syn­drome with dampness equal to heat- marked by vomiting and diarrhea. Coptis root being bitter in flavor and cold in property purges fire, dries dampness and is de­toxicating. Magnolia bark bitter in flavor and warm in nature activates qi and re­lieves fullness. The two herbs are used together as principal herbs with the effects of pungent opening and bitter descending. Capejasmine fruit clears away heat in the triple-jiao and assists coptis root in purging heat. Pinellia tuber dries damp­ness and invigorates the spleen and assists magnolia bark in eliminating damp­ness. They are assistant herbs in the formula. Grassleaved sweetflag rhizome re­solves dampness by its aromatics. Prepared soybean dissipates heat and relieves anxiousness. Reed rhizome clears away heat, resolves dampness and harmonizes the stomach to arrest vomiting. They are used together as adjuvant and dispatcher herbs.

This formula can be used for syndrome of damp-heat lodged in the middle- jiao involved in typhoid fever, para-typhoid fever and bacillary dysentery.